Mayor needed

On May 30, the presidentially beholden court ruled that “the frequency of elections has to be reasonable” to ensure “continuity and stability in the formation of representative bodies.” Thus, it effectively deprived Kyivans of the right to choose their mayor and elect a legitimate city council until the last weekend of October 2015.

Members of the political opposition are angrily shrugging their shoulders. They can block the city council, but this will only impede how the city is run. They can appeal the constitutional court’s decision in the European Venice Commission, but even if it rules that the decision lacked legal grounds, the ruling will have no binding force in Ukraine and will simply be ignored.

It seems like the opposition has lost this battle. It also seems like they didn’t plan on winning it anyway.

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